Authorities in northern Nigeria say Islamic militants are suspected of killing at least 74 people in separate attacks late Saturday.

Witnesses and a State Security Service agent say militants killed 39 people and razed all the thatched-roof huts overnight in Mainok village in northeastern Nigeria.

Earlier, twin bomb blasts killed at least 35 people 60 kilometers away in the city of Maiduguri. The first blast occurred in a crowded marketplace, the second explosion caught people trying to help those injured by the first bomb.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but authorities suspect the Islamist sect Boko Haram was behind the attack.

The group is blamed for thousands of deaths since 2009, including attacks on mosques, churches, schools, villages, markets and government facilities.

Efforts by the Nigerian military to stamp out the group have not stopped the violence.

Boko Haram says it is fighting to create a strict Islamic state in the mainly Muslim north of oil-rich Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.